Become famous another day.

Lu Yanhe's Oscar win for Best Actor became the biggest topic of discussion at this year's Oscars.

Lu Yanhe thus broke the record for the youngest Oscar winner for Best Actor, becoming the youngest person in history to win the award.

Among male actors of his generation, he became the undisputed No. 1, and no one could compete with him.

However, compared to his award, what circulated the most and received the most views that night was his interview on the red carpet.

First, the host who asked the question, Naomi, was criticized by many netizens.

Chen Siqi's reaction shows that she had not communicated with Lu Yanhe beforehand about asking this question.

At this time, raising a question that could potentially hurt Lu Yanhe is seen by many as "lacking empathy" and "disrespecting Lu Yanhe for the sake of generating buzz and popularity."

Even before Lu Yanhe had said anything, two celebrities publicly criticized Naomi's behavior on their social media.

Secondly, there is the condemnation and criticism of Chen Pinhe.

To date, Chen Pinhe remains missing, neither appearing nor speaking out.

He didn't even apologize to Lu Yanhe, let alone offer an explanation.

Finally, he praised Lu Yanhe's answer.

"A remarkable attitude."

"Actually, you can tell from Yan He's reaction when he heard that he had won the award that he has really entered another stage. He is now taking things lightly and has let go of a lot of things."

“But he is still him, still the Lu Yanhe who dares to speak out. I originally thought he would never give a direct answer to the question about Chen Pinhe.”

"What is there for him to be afraid to respond to? He is upright and has nothing to fear."

……

Lu Yanhe scrolled through his phone, saw everyone's comments, and liked quite a few. Then, he posted an update: "I'm very happy to receive the award. I'll go back to filming now."
-
In fact, the time when Lu Yanhe will join the crew has not yet been determined.

He has many projects waiting to be filmed, but none of them have a set start date.

The sequels to several blockbusters, including "Burning Fire 3," "Godless 2," and "Cloud of Shadows 4," have already been filmed. New sequels will only be officially started after these films are released.

Filming for Men in Black 2 will not begin until the second half of this year.

After returning to China, Lu Yanhe mainly focused on his scripts and some projects produced by his company.

Filming for "Prison Break" is nearing its end.

Director Chen Lingling's "Wa Guang" is currently in post-production and is scheduled to premiere this summer.

A five-episode short drama.

Lu Yanhe personally approved the decision to broadcast the program on Yuehu TV for five days, and then simultaneously launch it on online streaming platforms.

"There's basically no hope of breaking even in the domestic market; the current market size isn't enough to make it recover its costs," Chen Yin said. "However, we can break even through overseas copyright sales and derivative licensing, which is better than we expected."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

"Of course, the most important thing is that we helped Director Chen produce this drama. The 'Nirvana in Fire' that she agreed to direct will become a key project for Linghe," Chen Yin said. "Because of your starring role, the 'Nirvana in Fire' project has attracted the attention of almost all the top-tier platforms overseas, and they are all asking about the project."

"Nirvana in Fire is indeed a type of drama I haven't played before. If I were to star in it, would I play Mei Changsu? It's another revenge-seeking character."

“It’s good, a rebirth,” Chen Ziyan said. “It suits you.”

Lu Yanhe nodded, "Okay, then you guys go ask Director Chen when she plans to film 'Nirvana in Fire'."

The role of Mei Changsu is actually very difficult to play.

The biggest difference between period dramas and modern dramas is that the former has a sense of performance.

Both the characters and the plot, because they are different from real life and have no real reference, naturally possess a sense of dramatization.

This sense of performance comes both from the fact that everything is based on fiction, and from the fact that past film and television themes have already created an impression that is itself based on performance in terms of sensory and visual perception.

When Lu Yanhe acted in "Phoenix Terrace" before, his understanding of the character may have been very rich, but his understanding of the genre of period dramas was far less extensive than it is now.

Historical dramas should be performed with a worldview in mind.

It must be more three-dimensional and have more blank space.

Lu Yanhe pondered, "Who should we cast to play the role of Prince Jing?"
“I think we should find a newcomer to play the role. This role requires good acting skills, but it also needs to feel unfamiliar to the audience. That would be the best.”

Chen Lingling gave her own advice directly.

“In this story, Prince Jing is a blank slate, a simpler character. He needs to fulfill this instrumental role, and he can directly accomplish this instrumental role by using a face that the audience is not familiar with.”

Lu Yanhe nodded, agreeing with Chen Lingling's assessment.

“This role will be highly sought after,” Chen Yin said. “Could we sign this role ourselves? It would be a huge boost to our careers to act alongside you in a drama with two male leads. If we can’t sign it ourselves, it would be too easy for other companies.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yanhe smiled and shook his head, "Suitability is the most important thing. If they already have a management company, how can they sign you?"

“Then let him sign a package deal,” Chen Yin said. “Besides starring in ‘Nirvana in Fire,’ he also has to star in several of our dramas.”

Lu Yanhe: "People will say you gave them an unfair treaty."

"What do you mean by 'overlord'? I'm not forcing myself on you. This is a clearly stated price. If you don't accept it, then don't come," Chen Yin said.

Lu Yanhe: "This is not appropriate. If it is, then all new actors will have to sign contracts for four or five films at once. Isn't that just a disguised form of indenture?"

Chen Yin was taken aback.

Lu Yanhe said, "Besides, are you so confident that we're going to use this method to find actors for our project? Shouldn't our project be so good that all actors would be vying to act in it?"

Chen Yin: "...That's true."
-
Lu Yanhe understood Chen Yin's actions.

Nobody wants to be taken advantage of.

In fact, many people might find Chen Yin's thinking perfectly reasonable.

However, Lu Yanhe felt that since he and Linghe had already reached this point, there was really no need to go to such lengths in some matters.

This seemingly legitimate action, aimed at protecting one's own interests, is actually detrimental to the environment in the long run.

If a powerful figure in a position can extract more benefits without restraint, today he is that powerful figure, but tomorrow he may be the one being exploited.
-
After a little bit of the news about the "Nirvana in Fire" project leaked out, everyone knew that Linghe had a TV series project, starring Lu Yanhe and directed by Chen Lingling. It was expected to be a project that would be launched simultaneously worldwide. In this project, there was another male lead, co-starring with Lu Yanhe, and they were looking for a newcomer.

This character instantly became an incredibly tempting pie in the sky.

Many new actors can't help but start dreaming.

Upon hearing the news, Li Yuefeng immediately sent a message to Lu Yanhe: I can be a newcomer too.

Lu Yanhe: Get out of here. You have so many projects to film, where do you find the time?

Li Yuefeng: I can try my best to adjust.

Lu Yanhe: You have so many Linghe projects under your control. If you transfer any of them, it will affect the other projects. That won't do.

Li Yuefeng: No, please.

Li Yuefeng: Name your fee.

Lu Yanhe: It has nothing to do with the salary; this role really isn't suitable for you.

Li Yuefeng: Sigh, since you've said that, then forget it.

Lu Yanhe: You're doing so well making movies now, you yourself said you wanted to break into the film industry, so why are you coming back to making TV dramas?

Li Yuefeng: If I can make this TV series, I don't need to enter the film industry.

Lu Yanhe: That's an exaggeration.

Li Yuefeng: No exaggeration. If I had acted in Friends, why would I need to make movies? This one show would have been enough for me to live off for the rest of my life. When I'm filming abroad, the people I know most are the main actors from this show.

Lu Yanhe: "Nirvana in Fire" may not be as popular as "Friends" globally; they are not even in the same league.

Li Yuefeng: I understand now. As long as you star in the film, you don't need to worry about anything else. You'll either become a hit or win an award, so you won't lose out.

Lu Yanhe: You've never lost money on any of the dramas you filmed about Linghe, right?

Li Yuefeng: It's still a bit lacking without you.
-
Compared to Li Yuefeng's initiative to volunteer, Li Zhibai and Yan Liang were much more reserved.

Li Zhibai's question was: Do you need me to take a break from work?

Lu Yanhe replied: Why don't you take on a role? You don't need to have any downtime; just find some time to fill in.

Yan Liang asked: Is this role suitable for me?
Lu Yanhe replied: It's not as suitable as "The Matrix". This role is more suitable for an unfamiliar face to the audience.

Once Lu Yanhe said that, the two of them understood.

Lu Yanhe said: "Besides, you two can't free up your schedules, can you? You have so many projects coming up!"
Li Zhibai: My schedule is indeed quite full. That's why I'm asking first, if you need me but are too embarrassed to ask.

Lu Yanhe: What's there for me to be embarrassed about?

Li Zhibai: You say that, but you're the one who's thin-skinned. You're just pretending.

Lu Yanhe: I'm sorry, I really don't have the concept of being shy around you. I really can't think of anything I'd be embarrassed to say to you.

Li Zhibai: That's nonsense.

Lu Yanhe: ...

Yan Liang: But Yan He, why did you want to act in "Nirvana in Fire"? It's such a long historical drama with so many episodes.

Lu Yanhe said: "It's a Chinese period drama. Compared to movies and modern dramas, historical dramas and period dramas best represent our own cultural characteristics. This drama has political intrigue, but the intrigue is not complicated. It has romance, but romance is not the main theme. Overall, the structure is relatively complete, but it is not too complicated. It is not as profound as many of our high-scoring historical dramas, which makes it incomprehensible to overseas audiences. Perhaps it can break the ice for this type of Chinese period drama overseas. That is why I wanted to star in it and see if I could make this type of drama popular overseas."

Yan Liang: No wonder, I understand now.

Li Zhibai: You seem to care a lot about the results of "going global" now.

Lu Yanhe: Of course, cultural works, from a macro-historical perspective, have always carried this responsibility: to tell the world what our culture is and what kind of people we are. This is very important.

Li Zhibai: Tsk, then why did you make us make so many Hollywood movies?

Lu Yanhe: You have to go in first before people will be willing to listen to you. I am Lu Yanhe first. Only then will Lu Yanhe's starring role in "Nirvana in Fire" have a chance to be seen and liked by them. If you don't establish a foothold overseas, why will overseas countries give you the opportunity to promote your own culture?

Li Zhibai: That makes sense.

Lu Yanhe: Just like I'm planning to bring the "Fast & Furious" series to China to make a few movies, so that everyone can see China's modern cities and landscapes in the movies. Like "Friends," it doesn't need deliberate promotion; being seen is a form of promotion in itself.

Li Zhibai: Okay, awesome, you must become China's cultural ambassador from now on.

Lu Yanhe: Get lost, don't flatter me.
-
Just then, a director handed him a script.

This director is no ordinary director.

Bill Augustus, a renowned director who won the top prize at the Venice International Film Festival twenty years ago with "Jules Huppert the Conqueror" and the top prize at the Picardo Film Festival fifteen years ago with "The Good."

But the cruel reality of the film industry is that if a director fails to produce good works for a long period of time, even if that director was once very famous, he will be abandoned by the film industry.

In the past decade, none of the three films directed by Bill Augustus have been nominated for a place in the Big Four international film festivals.

It could even be said that there was almost no sound.

Chen Ziyan said, "This script is just so-so, do you want to take a look?"

After all, he was a director who had won major awards. Lu Yanhe thought that even if he had to refuse, it would be better to do so personally. So he decided to take a look at the script first.

Chen Ziyan's judgment was correct; the script was quite ordinary.

It tells the story of a young man who, after unexpectedly acquiring a notebook, decides to embark on a journey to find a woman, guided by the notebook's contents.

Essentially, it is another journey of spiritual redemption.

Lu Yanhe couldn't concentrate on it.

Too white.

This is not a good script.

Lu Yanhe personally replied to Bill Augustus's email, expressing his pleasure at being asked to act in the movie, but also stating that he had already made a similar film, "The Road to Glory," and therefore did not want to repeat himself, thus declining the invitation.

After receiving the email, the man politely said that it was fine if he didn't want to act in the movie, but he really wanted to work with Lu Yanhe and could contact him if Lu Yanhe had any suitable projects for him.

Lu Yanhe then realized what was happening.

It turns out that their real intention wasn't the movie; they were just pretending to invite him to act in a film, but actually wanted to get good scripts from him.

Just as any good actor always has a great need for good roles, any director also has a great need for good scripts.

Almost no director would say that the script is unimportant.

Bill Augustus hasn't produced any good work in so many years, he must be quite frustrated.

Lu Yanhe told Chen Yin about Bill Augustus's situation.

"Does Linghe currently have any projects suitable for him to direct?"

Chen Yin honestly said, "I haven't seen his movies yet; I need to study them first."

"Ok."

Given Chen Yin's extensive film viewing experience, the fact that he hasn't seen any of Bill Augustus's films speaks volumes about how much the latter has faded from the public eye in recent years.

Chen Yin asked, "Can a director like him only direct art films? Do we necessarily have to find a project to collaborate with him on?"

“That’s not necessarily true.” Lu Yanhe shook his head. “Many art film directors direct genre films and commercial films, and they are just as good. In fact, because of their auteur style, the films have a higher quality.”

Chen Yin: "Okay, I'll study this director first."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ziyan laughed and said, "It's really different now. World-class directors are starting to come to you looking for work."

Lu Yanhe: "Sister Ziyan, you understand me best and know why I want to cooperate with him."
-
In April, Murken Sorge's "The Island" was released worldwide. Bai Jin, as one of the five lead actors, participated in the film's premiere events in multiple locations around the world for the first time.

Lu Yanhe and his group attended the premiere of Yuming.

Thriller films like this don't usually have very high box office returns in China; even the better ones only gross around 200 to 300 million yuan.

Even though Murken Sorge is a renowned director of thrillers, he couldn't break through the limitations of this genre in China.

This thriller didn't have a low budget. After all, Alexander Ryan, one of the lead actors, earned $1500 million at the box office alone. The entire film cost around $6000 million, and the break-even point is around $1.8 million. Of course, this only considers theatrical box office revenue; the break-even point is $1.8 million. But the bulk of the thriller's revenue actually comes from rentals and streaming markets.

Especially in the era before the internet was widespread, there was a stable market for thrillers, primarily through rentals and DVD sales.

However, the film's box office performance was mediocre.

It's not fair to say this movie was a disaster, nor is it fair to say that audiences disliked it. However, with masterpieces like "The Mist" and "Get Out" preceding it, both the industry and audiences had higher expectations for Murken Sorge. But "The Island" was too conventional, giving it only the feel of a mediocre, conventional thriller.

This is also reflected in the box office figures.

The global box office was not bad, taking in $38 million in its opening weekend, but it's hard to say whether it will break $100 million in the end.

Bai Jin's first overseas blockbuster was a failure.

Lu Yanhe made a special call to Bai Jin to comfort her.

Bai Jin didn't take it to heart at all.

“I’m not the lead actor who’s carrying the box office for this movie. The movie ‘The Island of Horrors’ made over 60 million yuan in its opening weekend in China. I’ve already done my job as a Chinese actor. Its performance overseas is mediocre. What does that have to do with me? I’m not the one who got paid $15 million.”

Lu Yanhe listened to Bai Jin's words and was both amused and exasperated, yet he also agreed with them.

This is true.

Lu Yanhe called Muken Sorge, wanting to comfort him.

Mocken Sorge chuckled and sighed, saying, "Actually, you can't say the movie was a disaster, it just wasn't as good as we expected."

Some media outlets have even said that "The Island of Horrors" is not a failure, but simply not as successful as Muken's previous works.

Not everyone can be like Lu Yanhe, succeeding every time and never failing.

Even without Lu Yanhe's protection, Murken Sorge's ability to produce such a result once again fully demonstrates the skill of this master of thrillers.

Lu Yanhe didn't know whether Muken Sorge was more pleased or unhappy to see such comments.

It's a real headache.

But right after that, "The Seventeen Floors: The Enlightened Ones," starring Jiang Jun, is about to be released.

It chose the May Day holiday period in the country, while overseas markets were scheduled to coincide with the domestic market.

After all, China is one of the biggest markets for this film.

Lu Yanhe attended promotional events in five countries around the world.

After all, he is the producer and the executive producer.

The question everyone is most concerned about is whether Lu Yanhe will return to the series in the future and star in a spin-off movie.

Lu Yanhe's answer was, "Anything is possible."

He added, "But the 'Seventeen Floors' series has Jiang Jun, Chen Bige, and Li Yuefeng. If each of them has their own spin-off film, we'll have to make many. We need to find the best stories and give our characters the new journeys that best suit them before we can start. We're all very young, so please be patient."
-
"The Seventeen Floors of Enlightenment" was promoted as a major blockbuster in China.

The promotional resources are all top-notch, only one level lower than the promotional budget for the Spring Festival film season.

Lu Yanhe personally participated in the meetings regarding the film's promotional strategy.

"We can't do big-budget promotion. The biggest selling point of 'The Seventeenth Floor' is the concept of dungeon survival. The main focus should be on crisis, thrill, and excitement. This is the core element of the 'The Seventeenth Floor' IP."

“Jiang Jun is not an action movie actor. If we promote that Jiang Jun’s action scenes in this movie are very good, it’s not a good fit and it won’t be attractive. I suggest we focus on the professional action actors in the movie.”

"Action actors don't have box office appeal."

"The word 'professional' can deepen the audience's trust in the film's quality. Combined with other promotional elements, this will encourage them to actually go to the cinema to watch the film. The star power of this film is already sufficient. Under this premise, the more we emphasize professionalism, the more we can transform the star effect into a quality effect," said Lu Yanhe. "Among the films currently in the May Day holiday lineup, none of the other films have a stronger star cast than our 'Seventeen Floors.' It would be a waste to rely on star power at this time."

Lu Yanhe has always had his own ideas about film promotion.

This has been a major headache for the publicity team.

It's not anything else, it's that Lu Yanhe has a different promotional strategy for each of his films.

This means that their past methods cannot be directly copied, and they cannot take any shortcuts. Every film must start from scratch to rebuild a new promotional model, just like building a house. Today they build a flying eave, but tomorrow they demand a sloping roof.

"But every time it's a new model, it means there's no guarantee of success." Not everyone in the publicity department is looking to slack off. Every film project involves an investment of at least eight figures. If the publicity fails and the box office results are poor, the publicity staff are always the first to take the blame. Everyone feels that a publicity model that has been proven by the market can at most have a slightly worse effect, but it won't backfire.

Lu Yanhe said, "Does this monotonous promotional model guarantee that every movie will be a box office hit? It will still flop. I'll emphasize it again: if you use the 'sea of ​​questions' approach to promote a movie, you're just burning money. You need to find your core audience, you need to have a good reputation, and you need to truly attract a group of viewers who are willing to go to the cinema and then promote the movie for you."

“Why did movies have premieres in the past? Because audiences were reached through the media. Premieres were essentially for the media, to generate buzz and attract viewers. Why do we still have premieres now? Is it still for the media? No, it's to create hype, to concentrate all resources for a period of time to bombard the audience, letting them know that a movie is coming out, what the genre is, what the actors are, how good the audience feedback is, and so on.” Lu Yanhe spread his hands. “The same promotional methods, but we're facing a different audience. Before, I needed the media to say good things about you because media praise worked. Now, media words don't work; word-of-mouth is what matters. So what's the point of your 'sea of ​​questions' strategy?”

"So how can we get more viewers to help us promote this movie and think it's good?"

"We want as many of our target audience members as possible to see it, and we don't want non-target audience members to go to the cinema from the very beginning of the promotional stage," said Lu Yanhe. "This way, it will truly gain a good reputation among the market audience. People always say that Korean and Japanese dramas get higher ratings on Yemai.com, while domestic dramas rarely get high scores, saying that Yemai.com's audience is biased. In reality, it's because Korean and Japanese dramas only have a small group of viewers. If most of your audience doesn't watch them, they naturally won't give them low scores. You are the target audience, and you naturally fall for that kind of thing, so your scores will naturally be higher. The same principle applies to film promotion."

Chen Yin urged from the side, "Write it all down carefully. What President Lu said is all golden advice!"
-
On April 30, "The Seventeen Floors: The Awakening" was released.

With a 31% screening rate on its opening day, it stands head and shoulders above the rest in the domestic film market.

The reason it's so popular is that other films scheduled for the May Day holiday either premiered yesterday or will only premiere on May Day itself.

"The Seventeenth Floor: The Dawn" managed to secure a window of opportunity.

The box office presales exceeded 1000 million yuan on the first day, and it also sold 5200 million yuan on the day itself. On the second day, May Day, the May Day film season officially kicked off with fierce competition among various filmmakers.

"The Seventeen Floors of Enlightenment" is locked in a fierce battle with the number one film—a comedy.

In the end, it won the day's box office champion by a narrow margin, earning less than a million more than the comedy film.

in the country, Jiang Jun's box office appeal is not as strong as it is abroad.

This is also a very strange situation.

But the core issue is that Jiang Jun doesn't have many movie fans in China who would buy tickets to see him just because he's a person.

But it exists abroad.

Abroad, he is the most familiar Chinese face, apart from a few people like Lu Yanhe.

He has accumulated a considerable number of moviegoers who recognize him through his films.

The trust he built with his previous high-grossing films will continue to influence his next movie.

That level of trust will be diminished once he has a movie that is not well received by the audience.

Fortunately, "The Seventeenth Floor" is a major IP in China.

The three seasons of the TV series have garnered a considerable number of fans.

By the end of the May Day holiday, "The Seventeen Floors of Enlightenment" had grossed over 5 million yuan at the domestic box office.

It has also been released in overseas markets.

Linghe has once again made other domestic film companies envious.

Because the film "The Seventeen Floors of Enlightenment" did not achieve high box office returns in any single market, but due to its global release and the ability to sell tickets in various markets around the world, the film ultimately surpassed $1500 million in overseas box office after one month of release, even without any single market exceeding $8000 million. Combined with the $1.1 million earned domestically, the film's global box office reached $2 million.

"Actually, this movie's box office wasn't very high. It didn't even take first place during the May Day holiday. That comedy movie actually grossed over 8 million yuan domestically."

"But The Seventeen Floors of Enlightenment sold well overseas, grossing $2 million worldwide and making a fortune."

“Jiang Jun is well-known overseas. With the IP of ‘The Seventeen Floors’, even if it’s not a huge hit, the combined market of hundreds of countries and regions can still generate such a high box office.”

Following the box office success of "The 17th Floor: Awakening," "The 17th Floor: The Magic Cube" has also released its first trailer.

Actually, filming hasn't even started yet, but the trailer has already been released.

5-second shot.

Chen Bige's silhouette.

This is a shot specifically filmed for the trailer.

While everyone is still buzzing from watching "The Seventeenth Floor: The Enlightenment," let's leave a mark on everyone's memory and remind them that this IP will have a spin-off movie coming soon!
-
"What about Lu Yanhe? Will Lu Yanhe star in a spin-off movie of 'The Seventeen Floors'? We want to see Lu Yanhe!"

"Yeah, 'The Seventeen Floors of Enlightenment' did so well at the box office. With Lu Yanhe in it, the box office will only be higher. Don't you want to make money? Hurry up and go find Lu Yanhe and get him to agree to star in one!"

……

However, the box office success of the spin-off film "The Seventeen Floors" gave Chen Yin a different idea.

"Wouldn't the box office be better if we developed a spin-off movie of Friends?"

Lu Yanhe shook his head: "Don't even think about it. You can't even handle the copyright. The copyright is in the hands of Beijing TV. I was only willing to return to this series after Yuehu TV secured the filming rights for the TV series. As for the film copyright, Beijing TV will definitely not let go. I don't want to cooperate with them again."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yin agreed and immediately sighed.

Pity.

Chen Yin exclaimed, "If 'Friends' could be developed into a spin-off movie, it might become a new regular film series in Linghe during the Spring Festival season."

Since "Home Alone" ended, Chen Yin has been looking for a movie that can continue to dominate the domestic Spring Festival box office while also becoming a huge hit at the overseas box office.

The domestic box office of "Flying Colors" at the beginning of this year was quite good, but it failed to replicate the miracle of "Home Alone" overseas.

Chen Yinchou.

Lu Yanhe also knew what Chen Yin was thinking.

He smiled but didn't say anything.

Actually, "Flying Colors" is already very well done.

It's normal that it can't replicate the box office miracle of "Home Alone" overseas.

Cultural barriers are not so easy to break down.

There are very few movies like "Home Alone" that are so easy to understand and appeal to people all over the world.
-
Lu Yanhe himself was also thinking about whether there were any comedy films like "Home Alone" that were suitable for all ages and could break down cultural barriers.

I thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer.

Until he thought of Mr. Bean.

However, Mr. Bean is the kind of character that relies too much on a particular actor.

The character and the actor have become one.

Lu Yanhe really didn't know who he could cast if he were to play Mr. Bean.

But precisely because of this, Lu Yanhe was actually glad that he had been letting Chen Yin and the others find and do projects on their own from the very beginning, instead of letting Linghe Company rely entirely on him.

At least for now, we have an original film, "Flying Colors," which grossed over a billion yuan during the Spring Festival season, as well as genre films like "Summer Night Villa Horror" and "The Corpse."

When will an original Home Alone movie set in this timeline be released?
Lu Yanhe didn't know, but he believed that as long as he persisted in his current creative direction, continued to create original works, and supported talented and capable directors, screenwriters, and people in all sorts of professions, something would definitely happen.

In late May, the second installment of "Red Eye" was released.

This sequel, which was not written by Lu Yanhe again, had a budget of $3000 million (including marketing) compared to the first film's $5000 million, but its box office revenue decreased from $2 million to $1.2 million.

The box office performance was still decent, although it fell short of expectations.

This movie definitely made money, although not as much as the first one.

Midoriya even wants to develop a third installment of "Red Eye".

Jiang Yuqian came to ask Lu Yanhe for his opinion again.

"The second movie did so much worse at the box office than the first one, should I continue acting in the third one?"

“If they can bring you a script you think is worth filming, then accept it; if the script isn’t good enough, then refuse,” Lu Yanhe advised. “However, in Hollywood, if you have a leading role in a film series, it’s a huge advantage for your commercial value and for negotiating other projects with major film companies, because it sends a very positive signal that you can carry the box office. In Hollywood, there are very few leading actress film series like this; almost every one that comes out makes you a superstar. If not a superstar, then a very well-known actress. I don’t know what kind of film series ‘Red Eye’ will become in the future, but it’s worth putting more effort into it. You can find the best directors and screenwriters to make a third installment; you have that capability.”

"But I really don't have a knack for choosing scripts," Jiang Yuqian said frankly. "The past has taught me this lesson the hard way."

“Then you should find a talented and suitable screenwriter to write the script. You may not be good at choosing scripts, but you should invite screenwriters who have written similar works and achieved success, and those similar films that you like and that have also achieved market success, to write the script for the third movie,” Lu Yanhe said. “You are the only protagonist in this movie. If Green Valley wants to make a sequel, they can’t bypass you. Your opinion can influence the production.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuqian nodded, "Okay."

Lu Yanhe then asked, "Have you finished filming 'Galaxy and Joe'?"

"We're done filming," Jiang Yuqian nodded.

This is Xia Wei's new film. Their previous collaboration, "The Window," brought Jiang Yuqian her first role that garnered significant attention and praise for her acting skills.

For this reason, Jiang Yuqian was very willing to continue working with this director.

"Let's see if it can be released by the end of this year," Jiang Yuqian said. "She has already started post-production."

"So urgent?"

“Yes,” Jiang Yuqian said, “because I want to attend the Venice International Film Festival this September.”

"Is 'Galaxy and Joe' not going to go to Jose?"

“This film, West Asia, is still not suitable for Jose; it’s a bit more complicated than ‘The Window’,” Jiang Yuqian said. “I felt the same way when I was acting in it.”

"Then let's look forward to it," Lu Yanhe said with a smile. "Continuing our push for awards season?"

"Well, that depends on whether the role will be cast then." Jiang Yuqian sighed happily. "If there's hope, that's great; if not, oh well. We have to accept reality. Winning an award is wonderful, but not winning is just another day. In any case, from many perspectives, I'm already a very successful actress." (End of Chapter)